This disclosure relates to sealing components of a fuel cell stack assembly, which includes an anode, a cathode and an electrode assembly.
A fuel cell typically includes dozens or more cells arranged to provide the cell stack assembly. Each cell includes an anode, a cathode and an electrode assembly. In one type of fuel cell, the anode and the cathode are provided by porous plates having flow fields that respectively supply fuel and reactant to the electrode assembly. Porous plates can be used to transport water, which can also be utilized as coolant. For some fuel cells it is desirable to use internal manifolds, which are located inside an outer perimeter of the porous plates. The internal manifolds carry a fluid flow, such as fuel, reactant and/or coolant. The flow through the internal manifolds must be contained in some manner to prevent overboard leakage from the cell stack assembly.
Traditional fuel cell stack assembly designs use interfacial seals between the components of the cell stack assembly. The interfacial seals are arranged between the lateral sides of the anode, the cathode and the electrode assembly to prevent the fuel and reactant from escaping their respective flow fields thereby bypassing the electrode assembly and intermixing undesirably with one another. One type of interfacial seal is provided by a gasket having adhesive that is applied to the face of the porous plate. The adhesive can migrate into the porous plate and enter the flow field, for example, which can contaminate coolant within the cell stack assembly.